Pikmin Onions
The Onions are the nests of the Pikmin. Olimar named them so because of their resemblance to a vegetable native to his home planet. These bulbous plant-hives have brightly colored bodies with a black and white band across the midsection. At the spots the Onions land at the start of each day, there are concentric circles on the ground, which are never referred to in-game. Three stilt-like legs suspend the Onions out of the reach of hungry predators, and provide access to the inside for Pikmin. In Pikmin, Olimar states that he inspected the Onion's legs, and saw they were covered with tiny little hairs. During the daytime, Pikmin hunt and bring food, such as pellets or slain beasts, to the Onion, which in turn produces new Pikmin seeds. If there are fewer than 100 Pikmin on the field, the seeds are ejected and take root in the ground; if not, they are stored inside the Onion, along with any other Pikmin not on the field. When night falls and all the Pikmin have returned, the Onion folds its legs and lifts off from the ground, presumably using its flower petals like rotor blades to propel itself into the low atmosphere, where it hovers until daybreak. If all Pikmin of the same color are lost, the corresponding Onion will produce a single seed the following day to prevent extinction. When the Onions are first discovered in Pikmin, they are dormant. They have a dark grayish color, are flowerless, and their legs are buried in the ground until Olimar comes upon them, at which point they spring to life and spit out a single seed. It is not known exactly what triggers this hibernation. In Pikmin 2, when each Onion is discovered it is already in an active state, and a few Pikmin of the same color can be found nearby. Pikmin 3 features a mechanical spherical object with legs that looks and acts like the natural Onions in the first two games. There are three known types of natural Onion, each with unique coloration corresponding to either Red, Yellow, or Blue Pikmin, and only one of each has ever been seen at once. Subterranean Pikmin species such as Purple Pikmin, White Pikmin, and Bulbmin do not have Onions, or at least none that have yet been discovered. The Red Onion is the first Onion to be discovered in first 2 games. In Pikmin, the Red Onion is found at The Impact Site, dormant in the ground not far from where the S.S. Dolphin crashed. Once awakened, it will release a single Red Pikmin seed which Olimar can use to harvest nearby red Pellet Posies and spawn enough Pikmin to retrieve the Main Engine. In''Pikmin 2, Louie finds this Onion in the Valley of Repose when he falls out of the Ship's cockpit and gets lost. The second Onion the player will come across in the first 2 games. In ''Pikmin, it is found dormant in The Forest of Hope amidst several yellow Pellet Posies and free-standing yellow pellets. In Pikmin 2, the Yellow Onion is located in the Perplexing Pool behind a poison gate protected by a Fiery Bulblax, so White Pikmin and Red Pikmin are required to reach it. There are a few yellow Pellet Posies nearby which will not regrow once they've been harvested. In Pikmin, it can be found in The Forest Navel in a pool near the landing site, and is the third Onion the player discovers. Several blue Pellet Posies are in the immediate vicinity, as well as a free-standing blue 5 pellet. In Pikmin 2, the Blue Onion is located in the Awakening Wood; although it can be seen relatively early in the game, it lies behind an electric gate, meaning that Yellow Pikmin from the Perplexing Pool are required to access it. A small pool blocks the only direct path up to the gate, so the Pikmin must be thrown onto a nearby ledge (while taking care not to disturb the Cloaking Burrow-nit lying in wait there). The Captain can then walk around through some water to reach them, and order them to defeat the beast and demolish the gate, allowing him to find the game's first 5 Blue Pikmin. For some unknown reason, when landing on an area, the Blue Onion seems to hover a bit before landing, therefore landing slower than the Red Onion and Yellow Onion. In a promotional video for Pikmin 3 released in the May 17th Nintendo Direct, an apparently artificial multicolored onion was shown, changing between red and grey colors. Along with the existence of grey-colored pellets, this confirms that the Rock Pikmin will have Onions. Further videos indicate that this "Onion" is used by every available Pikmin type. Individual Onion types still exist, but these small Onions merge together to make one main Onion. At the end of a day, any newly discovered Onion that isn't a part of the main one will be merged while taking off. Additionally, the majority of one type of Pikmin carrying an object to the Onion will determine which type of Pikmin the Onion produces. For example, ten Rock Pikmin and five Red Pikmin are carrying a Red Bulborb to the Onion, so Rock Pikmin will be produced.